Our first day we spent at California Adventure Park which is directly opposite Disneyland. It has some of the rides aimed at older children, which our kids are very keen on. This was Hamish’s first experience at theme park where he met the minimum height requirements for the scarier rides. We went straight to California Soari’n which used at a 3D screen to show us all over California while we hung from a seating platform which simulated us flying. Most of the places we had been to so it was a great way to revisit our memories. Next we did the old white water rapids where Hamish was absolutely drenched. Then we it the big roller coaster, California Screaming! There were a few screams from me, but we ended up riding this four times before the end of the week. The crowds were small and we weren’t waiting for long so managed to do quite a lot in the morning. Sat down for lunch with some great corn dogs  and fries to refuel on. The afternoon  saw us revisit some of the rides and we watched the street parades. The park closed at 5 o’clock as it was holding a Halloween party that night. We strolled up to down town Disney and hit some of the shops, quite a bit of time being spent in the Lego store. We headed to the Rainforest Cafe for dinner. This place is huge and every inch of wall and ceiling space is covered in rainforest, monkeys, tigers etc. Really wild and loads of fun. After a great meal, we were keen  to try their trade mark desert, The Volcano! Chocolate brownie filled with ice cream and cream. When the waiter brings it out he is joined by two others and hey yell, Voollcannooooooooo! at the top of their voice, so everyone knows you are having one. On te stroll back to the hotel we passed Disneyland so decided to go in and familiarise our selves for the next day. We only had two hours  and it was very crowed but manged to fit in 3 of the lesser known rides.

Thursday we hit Disneyland by 9.30. We got some fast passes early which allows you to go back to a ride at a set time so you don’t have to line up as long. The crowd was much bigger and the few ‘thrill rides’ were very popular. The kids enjoyed Ghost Galaxy which is a tight roller coaster, inside, in the dark! I was scared out of my wits and refused to go on that one again!! Indiana Jones was great, not scary but fantastic special effects. The time went quickly and by  3.30 we had had enough. We decided to head back to the hotel for a swim as it was very hot and the kids were keen to try the Pirate Water park at the hotel. Grace and I went back into California to watch the High School Musical show before we headed back.

Thursday night we headed to the Honda centre for the Lakers v’s Denver Nuggets basketball game. It was great with all the usual music and cheer girls etc. Lakers won and we also enjoyed Nacho El Grande for dinner, a huge bowl of nachos with the works!

Friday morning we slept in a little. We had a slow start before we hit some of the factory outlets. First stop was Deck n Shoes where the kids spotted Heelys (skate shoes with in built wheels which you can take out). Gracie also liked a glitzy pair of Skechers. Then we drove out to the Ontario Mills a massive factory retail outlet. Dan hit the Nike store while I found some Skechers and we both found some cheap Levis. Another Lego shop pleased the boys.

Got back early afternoon and revisited some of the popular rides at California before heading over to Disney for the night. Big mistake!! Disney was so crowed you could hardly move. My theory was we would go back out to Downtown Disney eat dinner then had back for fireworks then hopefully people with young kids would leave. We had a nice mexican dinner at Jo Tortilas then on our way back the boys spotted Ride Makerz. Hamish decided to make a remote control Corvette. He collected all his parts then went to the workshop to build it. Very proud of his end product! Mean while Grace and I went back to Disney and caught the Halloween fireworks. They were amazing! All the Halloween decorations are amazing! The park did empty out a little bit still took an hour to get on to Indiana Jones. At midnight we wandered home with fantastic memories of our time at Disney.

Saturday saw us awake in a hotel room that looked like a bomb had hit it!!! Packing was interesting, but we manged to fit everything in with just a couple of more hand luggage bags. We checked out at 11.30 and drove up to Hollywood. Parked near the stars walk of fame but were quickly accosted by a girl selling seats on an open air truck tour of the stars homes. A good deal was negotiated and within ten minutes we were with our guide, Fifty five-year old Helen from Brisbane! She was great and although the tour sounds cheesy it was great to drive through he hollywood hills with the wind in your hair. The streets were immaculately groomed and we saw Michael Jackson’s last home, Madonna, Britney Spears, Elvis’s LA home, and many more. Even glimpsed Dr Phil sweeping his drive way!!! Two hours quickly flew and it was time to find some lunch/ dinner and return the car before heading for the airport. In total we drove 3112 miles and we had the best time. America is really a great place, fantastic service, reasonably cheap (while the dollar is good) and quite friendly. Favourites include San Francisco, Moab, and the camping we did. We definitely will be back!!

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